Field
Link speed fluctuation reduction can be useful in a variety of communication systems. Such smoothing may have various benefits and may be achieved in various ways. For example, a policy and charging rules function can be leveraged to avoid repeated transfers of a same section of over-the-top video.
Description of the Related Art
When wireless link speed changes dramatically and frequently, the system can repeatedly download the same section of video with different compression levels generating for example an extra 50% additional overhead. There is value in mechanisms for avoiding this additional overhead, especially when these mechanisms can be implemented in a standards-based environment.
It has been noted that using default hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) adaptive streaming (HAS) parameters can lead to panic drops and variations in the rate of data streaming. Moreover, potentially available bandwidth may not be fully used, which may reduce the average quality level.